“Delta Flight 44 to Miami now boarding at Gate 10,” was announced over the intercom of the Orlando International Airport in Florida. Monica began to jump up and down, giggling like a little girl.
“Mony,” Lance chuckled in a deep voice, “calm down silly,” he continued as he tried to keep her feet on the floor by placing his hands on her shoulders. This had absolutely no effect.
“But I am soooo excited, I have never been on a cruise before!” she exclaimed as her jumping continued. Cari and Keeley were now cracking up at the couples' antics.
“Lansten, man you might as well give up, she ain’t gonna be calming down anytime soon,” Justin said shaking his head. “That is until she remembers she is scared of flying,” he said under his breath only loud enough for Keeley to hear. This made her laugh even more. Finally Lance, taking his friends' advice, gave up on getting her to calm down. He wrapped his arms around her waist, picked her up, and started walking towards the gate entrance. Justin still shaking his head walked over to his girlfriend, put his arm around her and started leading her towards the gate.
“And they say I am helpless,” Cari said as she continued to laugh. Cari was referring to how the group had called her "Helpless" for years. It was an inside joke between them. Poor Cari always seemed to be trying to figure things out. Sometimes it was simple things, and that is how she got the name “Helpless.” Monica on the other hand was nicknamed “Clueless.” Once her mind was focused on one thing it was hard to get her attention on anything else. This lead to her having no idea was going on around her half the time.
JC looked around and realized that everyone was staring in their direction. Having no doubt in his mind that the strangers all thought that they were crazy now, he grabbed Caris' hand and the laughing couple followed their friends.
By the time Justin, Keeley, Cari, & JC boarded the plane, Lance and Monica were already in their seats. Monica was now calm, but looked rather pale…even more so than usual.
“Are you all right?” Justin asked in concern as he stared at her extra pale complexion.
“I think it finally hit her that we are flying,” Lance said as he took Monicas' hand and squeezed it.
“Geez, Justin you weren’t kidding when you said she would calm down after everything hit her,” Keeley said, “Mon, is there anything I can do?”
“Um…find a better way to get me to Miami would be good,” Monica said and then she trailed off.
“Sweetie, we have to take this flight if you want to make it in time for the cruise,” Cari said. She and JC had just walked up and caught Monicas' plea for help.
“Question. Why didn’t we just drive?” Monica asked in a very hushed voice.
“Because this was the quickest way to get there,” JC said matter-of-factly. “Besides, this isn’t the first time you've flown and I am sure it won’t be that last. You always freak out every time we get on a plane and you are always Ok. Calm down girl. It’s gonna be Ok!” JC said and patted her cheek.
“But…” Monica tried to protest.
“No, honey, JC is right. Everything is going to be Ok. Just sit back and relax. We will be there before you know it and then it is off to paradise,” Lance reassured her and squeezed her hand again.
The other four took their seats. Soon the flight attendant began the normal pre-flight talk. She told them all how to fasten their seat belts and what to do if something happened to the plane. As she was talking about this Monica began to tense up. Lance put his arm around her and pulled her close. He knew how she felt though. He hated flying, but he hid it much better than she did. The others were still concerned about her and hoped that she was going to be Ok. Keeley was too excited to be nervous. She and Justin were off to spend a week in paradise. No reports, no media, and hopefully no screaming fans. Cari was just glad to be getting away from everything. Her family was driving her crazy, school was getting her down. She just needed a break.
Soon after the pre-flight instructions were done the plane started taxing down the runway. Within minutes they were in the air and on the way to Miami. They had an hour-long trip in front of them. After a little while Monica started to calm down and she and the other two girls began chatting about how excited they were and speculated about what would be going on while they were on-board. JC took this opportunity to take a little nap. He had not slept much the night before because he was overly excited himself. He had never been on a cruise either. In fact this was going to be a new experience for all of them. The entire band had been all over the world, in fact Cari, Keeley, and Monica had even gone overseas with them a couple of times. A cruise though, now that was something none of them had ever gotten the chance to do. By this time Keeley had made Justin switch places with Monica so that the girls could be closer to talk. Cari, who was sitting in the row in front of them was turned around on her knees so she could see the other two girls.
“Wow you guys, I can’t believe we are actually going on a cruise!” Keeley said with a smile as she tried to lean her seat back.
“I know, I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise. I hope we have fun,” Cari responded.
“Anything’s better than this,” Monica said with an uneasy look. She fidgeted in her seat until Keeley reached over and grabbed her leg. Monica looked at her with a startled look.
“Mon, stop freakin’ girl. Planes are way safer than cars, and besides look at that view,” Keeley said as she pulled the window cover up and gazed out at the water.
“No, no I don’t want to look, put that back down NOW,” Monica cried with a crazy look in her eyes. She started to reach across Keeley to reach the window when Keeley reached over and quickly pulled down the cover. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to them. So far they had had little trouble with fans recognizing any of them and she wanted to keep it that way. This vacation was a chance to get away from all that.
"So what do you want to do first?" Keeley asked her two friends, her hazel eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Well since the three of us already have such wonderful tans, I say we rule out laying in the sun," Cari joked. All three of the girls referred to themselves as albinos. They all had pale skin and were often the butt of many jokes. Being called "Snow White" was something that all three of them had gotten used to.
"Hey, don't forget about Lance," Justin joked along. He had overheard the girls talking. Lance was referred to as the "Mississippi Albino" by his band-mates.
"Anyway," Monica said rolling her eyes at Justin. Lance just shook his head and ignored Justins' comment. "We definitely need to go dancing before it's over. I love dancing!"
"Oh! Me too!" the other two girls said excitedly.
“I heard the ship has several dance floors on the boat, we can go to a different one every night!”
Keeley said while dancing in her seat, “Me and Justin are gonna get our groove on baby!”
"I can't wait to see our rooms," Monica said, playing with a long strand of her hair with one hand and biting the fingernails of the other. She often did this while thinking.
"Oh I know," Keeley answered, "Justin told me we are on the top floor in the penthouse suites."
"Yep, they are gonna be huge, I’ve heard they are the largest cruise suites," Cari thought out loud.
"And I love the name of the ship."
"Fascination," the three said at the same time. The girls continued talking and making plans. Justin and Lance glanced over at the girls curiously, and after watching them for a moment turned away shaking their heads with small smiles playing on their lips. Justin, JC, and Lance were really excited about being able to take the girls on the trip. They knew they all deserved it and they were looking forward to some rest and relaxation.
Soon after the flight attendants were making their rounds and asked the group if they would like something to drink. After they all got their drinks everyone settled back for the remainder of the flight.
“Wonder how Joey and Chris are holding up? Do you think they are excited as us?” Lance thought aloud. Joey and Chris were meeting them in Miami. They had flown down a couple of days before to get a jump-start on the vacation and also to do a little flirting on the beach. The six people on the plane had stayed behind for various reasons. Monica and Lance had to stay because Monica was still recovering from exams and had not had a chance to pack. Keeley and Justin had stayed because Keeley had to work. She and Cari both had gotten done with exams earlier than Monica. Cari and JC decided to wait for the others. So here they were leaving for Miami on Saturday morning…the morning of the cruise.
“Dude, they are probably out on the beach somewhere scoping out women. They are probably gonna lose track of time and we are gonna have to go and hunt them down so they don’t miss the ship!” Justin said thinking about what a flirt Joey was and what a short attention span Chris had. JC would freak out because things were not running on time. Things such as this were a natural occurrence between the five of them.
“I tell you, I am not missing the boat because of the two of them. They can swim to catch the boat!” Lance said laughing.
“I hear ya, Lansten,” Justin said agreeing. Before any of them realized it had almost been an hour and the captain was announcing over the loud speaker for everyone to buckle up and that they would be landing soon.
“Um…I want back over next to Lance,” Monica said pleading with Justin. She looked like she was ready to freak out again and so Justin did not argue with her. Monica and Justin quickly changed places and Monica buckled up hastily. Lance held her hand and comforted her, telling her that everything was going to be Ok. Meanwhile, Cari was trying to wake up the sleeping JC.
“JC sweetie, we are going to be landing in just a few minutes.”
“Mom, I don’t want to go to school today,” JC said groggily, not even opening his eyes. He shifted slightly in his seat and then was silent again.
“WHAT?!?!” Cari cried out flabbergasted and playfully smacked JC’s arm. This woke him up. He turned and looked at Cari like she was crazy.
“What was that for?” JC asked confused.
“Dear Lord,” Cari said as she threw her hands up in the air, “I give up.” Keeley and Justin who had heard the entire exchange between the two sitting in front of them were trying hard not to laugh.
“Keeley, don’t make me come back there and beat you,” Cari called over the seat.
“I would like to see you try,” Keeley said as she began to laugh. This caused Justin to start laughing. Monica and Lance, who had missed the entire conversion, turned and looked at the two of them like they were crazy.
“Do I even want to know what is going on?” Lance asked JC hoping to get an answer.
“Hell, I don’t even know what is going on. I was hoping you could tell me.” This caused Keeley and Justin to laugh even harder. Leaving Monica, Lance, and JC confused, Cari decided to ignore them all.
Minutes later the plane was touching down in Miami. After the plane landed and everyone was given the Ok to get off the plane, Monica took off her seat belt and bolted. She did not even wait for the other five. Much to her surprise when she got off the plane, there stood Joey and Chris. She ran over to them and hugged them both.
“Well it is great to know that you missed us so much in the week that we were separated,” Chris laughed, knowing good and well that she was just excited to get off the plane. It was a well-known fact among them how much she hated to fly.
“Nah, she was freaking out as usual I'm sure,” Joey chuckled.
“Got that right, I think she broke my hand,” Lance said as he walked up to them. The four of them stood and talked for a few minutes waiting for the other four to get off the plane.
“I don’t know why you four are just standing here…I'm going to get a cab! I am ready to cruise baby!” Cari said and started heading towards the door pulling JC along.
“Uh…Cari,” Keeley called after them, “you and JC might want to get your luggage before you leave.” This caused Cari to stop dead in her tracks and turn around to look at the group. She had a lost expression on her face and JC was trying so hard not to laugh.
“Um…yeah I knew that. I was just about to do that,” Cari said starting to turn red from embarrassment.
“Sure you were,” Monica said, “you know we don’t call you ‘Helpless’ for nothing.” This caused the entire group to burst out laughing. JC led the dumbfounded Cari over to get their luggage. The rest of the group followed them and everyone grabbed their things. Soon they went outside to try and find their ride that would take the entire group to the dock. They had about 2 hours before the boat left, but they wanted to give themselves plenty of time.
When they all finally got themselves outside there was a man dressed in a black suit holding a little white sign that said Johnson Party. JC spotted the man and started to walk towards him with his luggage. “Come on guys, that’s us,” he said while motioning to the man. They all walked over to the man who was standing in front of a white van with dark tinted windows. The driver helped them put their luggage in the back and then they all piled in.
Justin and Keeley got in first and took up the back three seats of the van. Lance and Monica were the next to board the van. Monica looked back and Keeley and stuck out her bottom lip pouting.
“How come you guys get three seats and we only get two?” Monica whined.
“You guys were too slow, you snooze you lose babe,” Justin replied with a gleam in his eye.
“Besides,” Keeley spoke up, “now you two will have to get a little uh… cozy if you know what I mean.” She gave Monica a sly smile and scooted closer to Justin so she could lay her head on his shoulder.
“I like your thinking,” Monica replied with a smile as she happily took her seat next to Lance.
JC and Cari took their seats in front of Monica and Lance. JC automatically pulled out his Diskman and hit play. He’d just gotten a new CD and was eager to listen.
Joey and Chris were the last to get on the van. “Aww man, I don’t want to sit by him, where’s me a woman?” Chris said as he took one of the last two seats.
“I don’t what to sit next to your ugly mug either,” Joey said with disgust. He looked around the van and his eyes fell on Cari. “Hey Cari, why don’t you come sit next to a real man?”
“I already am, Joe,” she replied. JC gave Joey a look and scooted closer to Cari and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She smiled and snuggled in closer to him.
“Hmph,” was the reply she received from Joey as he plopped down into his seat next to Chris. He made one last ditch effort by glancing at Keeley and Monica with suggestive eyes.
“Don’t even ask,” Justin said from the back of the van. Lance and Monica were too busy staring out the window to notice Joeys' pleading look. Once the dust had settled and everyone was situated and buckled in they were finally off.
As they drove towards the dock they all chatted about what life had been like the past couple weeks.
“I’m so happy I’m done with my finals,” Monica said with a sigh.
“I second that, I was getting so burned out. I swear my teachers are slave drivers, and we are not even going to talk about my boss!” Keeley replied.
“I’m just glad that we are going to have an entire week of peace and quiet,” Lance said. He looked really worn out. You could easily see that he was tired and really looking forward to their much needed vacation.
“It took a lot of persuading to get Johnny to let us take a week off, but it is so worth it,” Justin said.
“Don’t forget about Wade,” Lance interjected, “he can be even worse than Johnny. At least Johnny doesn’t give us physical pain! My butt’s still sore from last week’s rehearsing!” Everyone turned to Lance and cracked up. They all knew how much trouble Lance had been having with the choreography last week.
“Hey babe, I’m gonna work on my tan on the boat. What do you think about no tan lines?” Justin asked slyly. He turned to Keeley and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“I think they’ll throw you overboard if you try that!” Keeley replied. “Besides, you might give some little old lady a heart attack!”
“Yeah, well, at least she’d die happy,” he joked. Keeley reached over and poked him in the ribs. Monica turned around in her seat and rolled her eyes at the pair. Justin and Keeley turned to look at her and burst out laughing. JC removed his headphones and turned around with a lost look in his eyes.
“What did I miss?” he asked while looking around at everyone questioningly.
“You don’t even want to know,” replied Lance, slowly shaking his head.
“Hey guys, we’re almost there!” Chris shouted gleefully from the front. They all peered out the window to see them approaching a gigantic ship. They all stared in awe as they got closer. The cruise ship was beautiful. It was huge. The ship itself was 855 feet long. They knew that their rooms were on the twelfth floor. The guys knew from talking to the travel agent that the ship could hold 2040 guests plus 920 staff members. All eight of them stared on in awe.
Monica started bouncing in her seat with a childlike smile on her face. “I can’t believe we are finally here!” she cried. “This is going to be so perfect!” She continued to stare out the window until their large white van pulled to a stop.
The all came pouring out of the van at once, trying to get a better view of their home away from home for the next week. Monica, Cari and Keeley took off running for the dock while the guys retrieved their bags from the back of the van. Joey looked at his friends and smiled. “Let’s get this party started!” he exclaimed. They all laughed at the hungry look in Joey’s eyes as a group of young women walked past him and smiled.
“Come on guys, lets go get the girls,” Justin said. They gathered up the luggage and headed over to meet the girls where they were standing.